Bogormen

Title: The Vacationers
Author: Emma Straub
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 304
Date read: August, 2015

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.


My expectations of this were rather low, which is probably why I ended up really enjoying it! It's pretty much your run-of-the-mill beach read, but with enough interesting characters to give it a twist... especially as I ended up changing my mind about almost all of them through the cause of the book, and found myself a lot more sympathetic to them than I had expected to in the beginning.

It's definitely not high literature in any sense of the word, but it's an entertaining read about a family you come to care for - warts and all.

Title: Boom!
Author: Mark Haddon
Genre: childrens, sci-fi
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 208
Date read: August, 2015

Jim and his best friend Charlie bug the staff room, and overhear two teachers speak in a strange language. What does "spudvetch" mean? Why do Mr Kidd's eyes flicker with fluorescent blue light when Charlie says spudvetch to him? A high-powered adventure can end only with a Boom!


A fun story that I would probably have liked a LOT more if I'd been closer to the target age group. It was well written and focused on elements that kids would find amusing. A fun read that I'd recommend to my nieces and nephews in a heartbeat if it got translated into Danish.

Title: Only Ever Yours
Author: Louise O'Neill
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 1.5/5
# pages: 398
Date read: August 2015

Where women are created for the pleasure of men, beauty is the first duty of every girl. Women are no longer born naturally, girls (called "eves") are raised in Schools and trained in the arts of pleasing men until they come of age. freida and isabel are best friends. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year, they expect to be selected as companions--wives to powerful men. All they have to do is ensure they stay in the top ten beautiful girls in their year. The alternatives--life as a concubine, or a chastity (teaching endless generations of girls)--are too horrible to contemplate.

But as the intensity of final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty--her only asset--in peril. And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride. freida must fight for her future--even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known.


It is extremely rare that I rate books I actually finish this low, but "Only Ever Yours" would have to be one of the most unpleasant books I've read in a very long time. I have no clue what point Louise O'Neill was trying to make, as there seemed to be none. The evil will succeed, the good will fail, and you should just lie down and take it?

The sad thing is, the book really had potential, and had you asked me about half-way through, I'd have estimated I'd end up giving it 3 stars... possibly even 4. But as the book went on, I got more and more disgusted by it, until I feel I'm being generous by giving it even 1.5 stars. I guess I should be impressed that Louise O'Neill's writing could cause such a visceral reaction in me, but mostly I'm just disappointed that I've wasted a full day's reading on this garbage. Absolutely horrible book.

Title: The Last Girlfriend on Earth
Author: Simon Rich
Genre: Short stories
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 215 pages
Date read: August, 2015

Love can be messy, painful, and even tragic. When seen through the eyes of Simon Rich it can also be hilarious.

In these ingenious stories, Rich conjures up some unforgettable romances: an unused prophylactic describes life inside a teenage boy's wallet; God juggles the demands of his needy girlfriend with the looming deadline for earth's creation; and a lovestruck Sherlock Holmes ignores all the clues that his girlfriend's been cheating on him.

As enchanting, sweet, and absurd as love itself, these stories are an irresistible collection of delights.


The first stories were awesome - I loved "Unprotected" (cute story with an unusual narrator) and laughed out loud at "Dog Missed Connections", but as the book went on, many of the stories fell flat, and after a strong beginning, the rest were pretty hit-or-miss. It ended on a strong note though, and the last one made me laugh.

Some of them made it obvious that I was supposed to find them funny (like "Set Up"), but they just didn't work for me. Others made for an interesting but chilling commentary on today's society (like "Occupy Jen's Street"). And a few just ended before they'd even started (like "Is It Just Me?").

There were very few I decidedly disliked though, and the good ones were very, very good, so I'm glad I've read them. I'm usually not that into short stories, but these were so short that they seemed more like vignettes, which appeals more to me.

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 466 pages
Date read: August, 2015

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?


I hardly know where to start and what to say without getting into spoilers. This was one amazing train-wreck of a book about two extraordinarily dysfunctional people.

The weird thing is that when I first picked up this book (about a year ago), I only read about 20 pages into it before putting it aside - I just couldn't get into it at all. I have no clue why not, because when I picked it up again this time around, I couldn't put it down! And ended up reading it in just a few sittings.

As I think everybody knows by now, this book is full of twists and turns, and in the beginning I found my sympathies going back and forth between Nick and Amy. They were fairly firmly stuck at about the half-way point though, and didn't waver again. I had NO clue how Gillian Flynn would resolve all complications in the end though, and at about 20 pages before the end remember thinking, "There's no way this will have a satisfactory ending!" And it didn't... but thinking back on it, I think it had the only ending it could have.

Absolutely mind-blowing book and a very chilling read.

Title: Grounded (Windy City Neighbors #1)
Author: Neta Jackson & Dave Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 320
Date read: August 2015

Grace's fiance bothered by her outspoken stance on purity and her near-constant travel, has broken off their relationship. Exhausted and unwilling to continue her current tour, she books a flight home. Traumatic events result in a paralyzing fear of flying. Stuck at home due to a major snowstorm, Grace begins, for the first time, to connect with the residents of Beecham Street. Will she recover her faith and overcome her fears, or will she give up her career?


Slow to get moving, and at about 110 pages I found myself thinking "Hmmm... this is a decent enough book, but it's a far cry from what I've generally come to expect from Neta Jackson!"

50 pages later, I was totally caught up in the writing and couldn't bear to put the book down. So yeah - though it takes awhile to get off the runway, I'd say she delivers, and I ended up absolutely loving the book and grew really fond of both Grace and Sam. For awhile there I was a tad worried about where Neta was going with the ending, but I should have known better than to doubt her :) I still think it ended just a couple of chapters sooner than I would have liked, but since it's the first book in a series, she may yet follow up on Grace in the later books.